Kicking one another’s legs might look like a simple business, but it turns out there’s more going on than most of us realize with this technique. (Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images)
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters)
Why does it sometimes seem like fighters start out strong with the calf kick and then forget about it? Turns out there is a multi-layered and fascinating answer to this question. I just had to turn to an actual expert in order to find it.
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Also in this week’s mailbag, how colossal of a favorite should Merab Dvalishvili really be for his UFC bantamweight title rematch with Sean O’Malley? And who’s a fighter from the old days who doesn’t get the credit they deserve?
All that and more in this week’s column. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA or @benfowlkes.bsky.social.
@Jietzsche: Why do fighters so often abandon the calf kick after implementing it effectively in the first round? Alex Pereira for example in his last fight seemed to get off to a good start piling up the calf damage early, then stopped emphasising it..
Thank you for this question. I reached out to noted trainer and fight coach Eric Nicksick for an answer. The resulting conversation was super interesting for me, so I’m grateful to you for being the catalyst on that.
To hear Nicksick tell it, one thing you have to remember is that the calf kick is not necessarily the same weapon to all fighters in all fights. Some are using it offensively. Others use it defensively. Some are using it to establish or disrupt patterns early on, solely for the purposes of changing up later on.
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For example, Nicksick said, when Francis Ngannou rematched Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title, their plan was to use the calf kick as an answer to Miocic’s jab. Every time he jabbed, Ngannou’s instruction was to parry and kick the calf. This was meant as a way of slowing down Miocic’s movement while also convincing him to jab less.
“It’s kind of like, if you get zapped every time you put your hand in the cookie jar, pretty soon you stop reaching for cookies,” Nicksick explained.
But in other fights, such as Sean Strickland’s UFC middleweight title fight with Israel Adesanya, the calf kick was intended to be a form of preemptive defense. Go out there and kick Adesanya’s calf just so he’s not the only one kicking.
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That’s very different from how another fighter like Kai Kamaka uses it, Nicksick said. For him, it’s intended to enable his own movement rather than to limit the movement of an opponent.
“Sometimes it’s like a dive play in football,” Nicksick said. “We’re going to run it up the middle to remind you it’s there and set up other stuff later on. But if we’re picking up 15 yards every time and you don’t adjust, we’ll keep running it until you prove you can stop it.”
But, as Nicksick pointed out, calf kicks can also be a good way to hurt your foot. You’re talking about a dense collection of tiny bones and ligaments that can be disabled by connecting with a shin or an ankle or a knee in just the wrong way. Some fighters stop kicking the calf simply because they hurt themselves doing it. Others who have suffered foot injuries in the past are forced to use them less in training, since they’re worried that another foot injury will force them out of the fight, at which point it becomes a weapon they’re less accustomed to using in fights.
In other words, there’s a lot going on with that one technique. Such is often the case in this fascinating sport, and I’m glad I got to learn about this aspect of it today. So thanks to you for asking the question, Jietzsche, and to Nicksick for breaking it all down.
@shadore66: Merab should honestly open as a -400 against O’Malley in the rematch right?
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The first betting line I saw had Merab Dvalishvili as a -275 favorite, with O’Malley at +235 in the rematch. That sounds about right to me. What you have to remember is that betting odds aren’t necessarily always a true reflection of what oddsmakers think of each fighter’s chances to win. Instead, these are numbers meant to maximize profitability.
O’Malley is a popular fighter, so oddsmakers know that people are going to want to bet on him to win. Even if they might think he only has a one-in-four chance of winning, they know they don’t have to offer four-to-one odds in order to entice people to bet on him. People will do it anyway just because they know and like the guy, and this way the oddsmakers cover themselves in the event that he does win.
I agree, though, that it’s hard to envision O’Malley winning this. We haven’t seen him do anything since that lopsided loss to Dvalishvili this past fall. Meanwhile, we saw Dvalishvili defend the title against a contender who a lot of people viewed as a major threat to his title reign. As of right now, there’s no reason to think O’Malley will do any better in the rematch than he did in the first fight.
What I also wonder is, what’s the state of O’Malley’s confidence heading into this? Because one of his greatest weapons has always been the extent to which he truly believes in himself. That’s got to take a hit after losing to Dvalishvili once. And without a win between meetings, it’s fair to question how he’ll get that faith back.
@JedKMeshew: The Zack Snyder UFC movie, on a scale of Madam Web to The Beekeeper, how bad/good will it be?
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I have not seen either of those movies, so your scale is completely useless to me, Jed. I will say that nothing I’ve heard about this movie so far makes me think it will be good or original in any way. I’m open to being proven wrong, but when I hear that a mega-wealthy company is making a movie about itself, I do not instantly assume that the result will be a transcendent work of art.
My own personal belief, arrived at after years of close study and observation, is that fight sports are inherently exploitative and heartbreaking and tragic. More so than other sports, in fact. This is part of the appeal for us, the sickos who watch, whether we want to admit it or not. This sport is about people destroying themselves for money and glory, all while convincing themselves that they will be one of the few exceptions to some very grim rules.
In order to make a good movie about this world, you first have to be unflinchingly honest about all that. I can’t see the UFC doing that. I think if Zack Snyder did make that movie, the UFC would send it back and insist on something duller and more blandly positive. I think what TKO execs want is a promotional vehicle with lots of shots of characters in their Venom fight kits, sipping sponsor beverages while gazing in awe at the benevolent but rugged Dana White.
Corporations don’t make good art — especially about themselves. But you know what? I’m sure I’ll watch the damn thing. You will too. And that’s all they really care about.
@EyeofMihawk: Almost all the GOATs were contemporaneous with each other- no one has yet surpassed the accomplishments of Mighty Mouse, Cruz, Aldo, GSP, Silva, Jones, Fedor, in their respective weight classes. Has the UFC monopoly strangled the growth of MMA?
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I get what you’re saying, but what if the reason we don’t see that same degree of dominance is because everyone is just so much better now? Think about it. At every level of the sport, fighters are better. They’re more well-rounded. They’re better athletes. You pretty regularly see crazy spinning knockouts at random UFC Fight Night events that would have easily been knockouts of the year if they’d happened in 2009. Now they’re forgotten in a month’s time, replaced by something crazier.
I think there are a lot of downgrades you can blame on the UFC’s shift from popularization of MMA to relentless monetization of the brand. But when it comes to fighter dominance, I think it’s just generally harder to hold a title down for a long, long time in a sport where amazing new fighters are flooding in from all over the globe, all the time.
@mmafilthycasual.bsky.social: Do you think the UFC will stick with ESPN after their current agreement is up?
I’d be surprised if ESPN doesn’t end up somewhere in the mix. I’d also be surprised if it remains as the only broadcast platform for the UFC.
We’ve seen rumblings of discontent on both sides recently. TKO execs think ESPN has raised the price too far, too fast (true) for a streaming platform that doesn’t even work all the time (super true). ESPN execs think the UFC is asking for too big an increase just to keep churning out APEX-level content with a diminishing number of actual stars (also true).
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If I had to guess, I’d say UFC programming gets sliced up between two or even three different platforms. I think there’s a good chance Netflix will be among them. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see the pay-per-views stay with ESPN.
@wolfe_was_here: Which GFL fight are you most looking forward to and why?
First I would answer your question with a question. That question is: Why are you doing this to me? Next I would heave a heavy sigh. Then, finally, I would say: I don’t know, man, maybe Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao? That one could, in theory, still be interesting. Or possibly Yoel Romero vs. Gegard Mousasi. Has that one been cancelled yet? Honestly, I won’t be convinced any of these fights are happening until I see them in the cage.
@JonaFreedman: Since I was not watching peak Bellator and GFL is coming up (actually seems like it), I need to know- what is the best possible outcome from two old washed legends you care about fighting each other?
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Both fighters perform well in a competitive fight, squeezing a little extra out of each other that maybe even they didn’t know was still in there. That’s the best-case scenario, and it does occasionally happen.
Dan Henderson was in his early 40s when he had that incredible first fight with “Shogun” Rua, who was only around 30 at the time but already had several lifetimes worth of fights. I don’t think people thought there was a ton left in either man. But they dragged it out of each other on that one incredible night.
@NeedXtoseePosts: Ben, it’s a bit bleak these days.
What is the happiest you’ve been at the result of a fight?
DC winning the heavyweight belt for me, though big Francis getting his was also great.
Aljo defending his belt to shut up the haters was also nice
This might sound weird, but I think it was Sean O’Connell winning the $1 million PFL tournament and then retiring right after. I loved that one. Sean has also struck me as a good dude and a smart guy. The MMA world is often not very kind to those people. Some of my favorite people in this sport were not great fighters. I watched them get used up and discarded while others who were objectively worse as humans achieved more success and earned more money.
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There is no moral value to be found in the result of a prizefight. This we know. But every so often, good stuff still happens for good people. Seeing O’Connell win that tournament and then walk away with a literal giant check in hand, that lifted the ol’ spirits.
@j0shc.bsky.social: Hey Ben, who’s a fighter from yesteryear that you feel is unfairly forgotten? Here’s a chance to give them some flowers
Yves Edwards. A lot of these youngsters don’t even know the name, which is downright shameful. Back in the early 2000s he was, for a time, the uncrowned king of a division that didn’t really exist in the UFC.
He was also basically a prototype for what was to come. He could grapple and he could strike. He was fundamentally sound but also creative. He had great cardio but could also explode in violent, fight-ending spasms. I remember watching him and thinking, ‘This is where this sport is headed.’ He deserves more recognition than he gets for that. Much more.
